PARIS — A gunman jumped out of a car, killed a police officer and wounded two others on the Champs-Élysées in central Paris on Thursday night, French officials said.

The gunman was shot dead by the police as he tried to flee on foot, Pierre-Henry Brandet, a French Interior Ministry spokesman, told the BFMTV news channel.

Mr. Brandet said that shortly before 9 p.m a car pulled up to a police vehicle that was parked on the famous boulevard.

The man opened fire on the police vehicle with an automatic weapon, killing an officer. He then “tried to leave by running away while aiming at, and trying to target, other police officers,” Mr. Brandet said.

“He managed to wound two others and was shot dead by the police forces,” Mr. Brandet added.

French authorities have confirmed that the shooter, who has not yet been named, was on a terror watchlist, and the French government is treating the attack as an act of terrorism.

The shooting comes just days before the first round of France’s presidential elections, scheduled for Sunday.